posted August 13, 2004 11:12 AM           

I was in the shower the other day, and for some reason I started mulling on my dull knowledge of astrophysics.
As I understand it, it's asserted that x-percent of the universe is made up of dark matter b/c otherwise the way that things actually gravitationally behave makes no sense. But what if masses don't behave the way they do due to unseen and so-far undetectable (and, again, I may be wrong on even that point) dark matter, but due to their interaction with objects in other, near dimensions?

posted August 13, 2004 11:32 AM         

For example, the weight of a person here on Earth is very different than on the moon- do to the pull. Jupiter, on the other hand, exhibits such a gravitational force that it actually helps pull some harmful asteroids out of our atmosphere, thus serving as a benific planet to Earth.

I am not 100% sure of what you are asking. If you mean, "Does the gravitational pull in one dimension affect the stability of planets in the other" or "Would one object act differently here than it would in another dimension?"

posted August 13, 2004 11:38 AM           

I've heard of hypotheses that other dimensions can affect things on a sub-nuclear level, and I was wondering if - instead of great gobs of dark matter affecting things on a macro-level - if the un-seen factor could be influence (gravitational pull) from dimensions close enough to ours (in whatever way dimensions can be close or far away) to have an effect.
edit: I guess since all dimensions are close to one dimension or another, and since all would affect those surrounding, the distance or lack thereof would be in some way illusionary, so all would affect all in some way or another (though to varying degrees).